High School Insider with Danny Ventura & Jim Clark

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Look up the definition of mild-mannered in the Webster’s Dictionary and the odds are good that you will find a picture of Xaverian baseball coach Gerry Lambert. One of the most even-keeled coaches in the business, Lambert showed that he has certainly has some fire in the belly. After watching back-to-back base-runners get picked off in the second inning, Lambert called the troops together between innings and unloaded on them, demanding more passion. No. 25 Xaverian responded, defeating No. 24 Norwood, 3-2, in 10 innings to improve to 3-4 on the season. Afterwards, Lambert explained the reasons for his seldom-seen explosion. “We didn’t do a good job for the first half-hour of practice yesterday in regards to mental mistakes, then we come out and get picked off twice,” Lambert said. “I don’t think you can bark 10 weeks in a row to a baseball team, but I do reserve the right to bust it out every once in a while.” Despite watching seven of the first 14 batters reach base, Xaverian didn’t get on the scoreboard until two were out in the last of the fourth. Trevor McQuade walked, then back-to-back singles by Noah Sorrento and A.J. King loaded the bases. Jake McLaughlin reached on an infield to score Sorrento, then Jake Farrell drew a bases-loaded walk to bring in Sorrento. Xaverian southpaw Worth Walrod was superb through five innings, allowing just one hit. The Mustangs (4-3) finally got to Walrod in the sixth as John Galvin, Jake O’Rourke and Mike Doliner all singled to load the bases with nobody out. Kevin Dolan came on in relief and induced Jake Ryan to pop the ball up in the infield what seemed like an uneventful first out. This being Xaverian, however, nothing comes easy. First baseman Andrew Elliott dropped the ball, then spotted O’Rourke sprinting between second and third. He spun and threw toward second, but the ball skipped into the outfield, allowing Galvin to score with O’Rourke and Doliner moving into scoring position. Dolan settled down and retired Dan Sullivan and Jack Sheehan without any further damage. “You get what you deserve in this game and we didn’t deserve to win,” said Norwood coach Kevin Igoe. “We had the chance to score some more runs there and didn’t get the job done.” Norwood would tie the game in the top of the seventh when Galvin drove in Kevin Hines, who opened the inning by getting plunked by a pitch. After Blake DeCarr pitched a scoreless eighth, Xaverian got a lift from an unlikely hero. Connor Collins led off the last of the eighth with an opposite-field double. He advanced to third when McQuade reached on a sacrifice and scored the game-winner on a wild pitch. “Connor played JV his first two years here, then he was one of the last cuts last year,” Lambert said. “He worked hard, made the team as a role player and came up with the big hit today.”